President Stokes Approves Minor Revisions to Two Policies

April 4, 2018

On April 4, President Stokes approved minor revisions to the Photo Identification Cards Policy and Holidays Policy, using an abbreviated process for policy review. Under Section 5.1 of the University Administrative Policy (UAP) 1100 (“Development and Approval of University Policies”), “If the Director of University Policy and Administrative Planning determines that proposed changes are minor in nature and either required by regulatory changes or necessary to conform to current practices, an abbreviated policy revision process may be used.” Descriptions of the changes are provided below.

UAP 1050 (“Photo Identification Cards”)

As an offshoot to a multi-year effort to allow the use of preferred or affirmed first names on LoboCards and similar identification cards used at the Health Sciences Center, and in University systems in general, a small committee was formed to assess chosen first names that the University Registrar identifies as appearing to be problematic. In such instances, which are expected to be rare, the committee will determine whether the names are obscene, profane, or racial slurs. A new paragraph on the committee replaces an outdated paragraph in the previous version of the policy.

UAP 3405 (“Holidays”)

On March 12, 2018, by proclamation, the Board of Regents recognized the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In order to implement the observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and of another observation required by federal law, Constitution Day, the administrative policy on holidays was modified to reference these two days. Unlike other holidays observed by the granting of paid leave, Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Constitution Day are celebrated and recognized while the University is open for business.

An additional change to the policy lists the University President as a co-Process Owner of the policy, along with the Vice President for Human Resources. This is fitting in that, under Section 2 of the policy, it is the University President who determines the number of days of winter break and whether to grant additional holiday days.